Strategic Work Planning

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensible.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

This week I am travelling and time is tight, so let me refer you to a recent study completed on Strategic Workforce Planning.

In today’s marketplace of growing competition for top producers, workplace disengagement among employees, rising demand for flexible hours/arrangements, plus rapid changes in technology, comes a need for greater collaboration between staff, management and data resources.

Strategic workforce planning (SWP) attempts to address these issues with new tools & resources, steering away from compartmentalized processes towards a more holistic approach serving business and organizational needs. SWP aims to put the right talent in position to achieve goals and objectives.

Here is a summary of this new report:Despite the importance of SWP and its effectiveness in planning for future growth, improving operational efficiency, and addressing skill gaps, it continues to be a challenge for many employers. But those that get it right understand that SWP must be a collaborative process, with full collaboration between people, data, and technology. Although companies may vary in their model for conducting SWP, there are similar processes that can be used by any organization to ensure full alignment between talent needs and overall organizational goals.

This signature research, conducted in partnership between Workday and the Human Capital Institute (HCI), explores the in-depth challenges facing organizations as they seek to adopt an effective strategic workforce planning (SWP) process as well as the best practices that can help them achieve success, based on the survey responses of nearly 400 professionals involved with SWP at their organizations.